The town’s superintendent is planning to resurrect a district reconfiguration discussion with the hope of presenting a solid recommendation to Board of Education members by the fall.

Since 2000, school officials have tried to figure out how best to use the district’s existing school buildings, whether by consolidating grade levels, shuttering schools or both. The discussions gathered steam after a new high school opened its doors in 2010, leaving the former high school vacant.

Superintendent Kevin Farr said he’s recently been working with a Berlin-based architect — at no cost — to come up with a new reconfiguration plan in an effort to move the discussion forward.

“We need a plan — one plan,” he said. “We need to have a consensus before we take a plan to the board, and eventually to the town and to residents.

Last year, the board was presented with two options by a reconfiguration committee. The first plan called for completely renovating the old high school on Westfield Avenue — portions of which were recently refurbished to provide space for central office staff — and moving grades 2 through 4 into the building, while also shifting kindergarten through first grade into an expanded Killingly Central School. That plan would include the renovation of the Goodyear Early Childhood Center and offering the Killingly Memorial School to the town. That plan was estimated to cost between $20 and $24 million.

The second option called for razing the old high school, building a new facility to house pre-kindergarten through grade 4 students and turning Goodyear, Killingly Central and Memorial schools over to the town.

Farr said he’s been mulling an idea that would blend “natural breaks” in grade separation while making student transition to upper levels easier. He said that could be accomplished by remodeling the Westfield Avenue building to accommodate grades 3 through 5, renovating Memorial School for kindergarten through second grade and keeping middle school students in place.

Farr said he’s aware some residents still carry a lingering resentment concerning the $81.2 million new high school.

“The biggest problem is these plans would mean another bond for the town, but it would be a 50-year investment. But this isn’t something that’s going to happen next year. It’s a long-term fight.”

School officials said have spoken recently about needed improvements to the district’s elementary schools, both of which require substantial window and door work, as well as some heating system repairs. Board members said they’d prefer not to expend millions of dollars in repair funding for a school that is later decided to be superfluous.

“We don’t want to close a school and find out later we need to expand programming,” said Alexis Rich, board chairwoman. “On the other hand, we don’t want to keep a building that isn’t being utilized, one we have to continue paying to heat and maintain.”

Page 2 of 2 - Jennifer Thompson, chairwoman of the board’s reconfiguration committee and mother of two Killingly students, said she’s confident that the town will get behind the right plan if they’re kept informed.

“It’s about being given all the information and its impact — not just for this year, but for the next 15 to 20 — and kept abreast,” she said. “This is something the town needs to get behind, whether it’s a whole new building or reutilizing one in a whole new way.”